Author  Message [bottom]
Shannara
 GM, 38 posts
 Treasurer
 
Wed 26 Mar 2003
at 22:13
 msg #1
Concerns Broached by Members
I received an email from someone concerned about the use of paypal to collect donations.  I'm posting his email -- and my response -- here.

If anyone feels that the concerns are valid, and has other suggestions about a more secure method of collecting donations, please let me know.

Member Message


Hi Shannara,

Excuse me emailing you as opposed to the other members
of the board (!), but yours was the only email address
I could find on the FoRPoL site, and besides, you are
the treasurer.

I'm kind of new to RPoL (well, no, I am *completely*
new to RPoL -- I only discovered it a few days ago),
but it looks like the kind of place I have been
searching for, and I shall no doubt be joining a game
or two in very short order. I came across the FoRPoL
section in my wanderings (RPoL obviously inspires a
fair amount of enthusiasm in its members!), and
noticed that you are using PayPal for donations.

Uh, you do know that there are a fair few horror
stories about PayPal, don't you? Don't you? If you
don't, can I suggest you wander over to the following
sites and take a look. The first is a (fairly
cautious) news item from PC World. The second is
decidedly less cautious...

http://www.pcworld.com/news/ar...id%2C101525%2C00.asp

http://www.paypalwarning.com/

Regards,
-- Pyter Voeros



=====
---------------------------------
http://free.hostdepartment.com/p/pytervoeros

mailto:



Well, I would post my reply here, but it didn't get saved.  Dratted mail options.  The gist of it was, I thanked him for making me aware of his concerns, told him that I, personally, consider paypal the best available alternative considering expenses, risk, and availability -- but I would pass along his email to woof and the other frpol members.

This message was last edited by admin at 10:27, Sat 26 Apr 2003.

JohnB
 GM, 58 posts
Wed 26 Mar 2003
at 22:29
 msg #2
Re: Concerns Broached by Members
I understand his  concerns -  BUT my use of paypal leads me  to  belive  it  is  fairly safe.

Hopwever,  perhaps  we  should  pull money out of  paypal  accounts  more  regularly?  That  would  remove  some of the risk element.

We  could also  encourage  donation by  cheque -  however  that  means  more  work  for us  ....

BTW  will check  that  my  email  addy is  up and  available on the website.
bigbadron
 GM, 29 posts
 He's big, he's bad, but
 most of all, he's Ron...
Wed 26 Mar 2003
at 22:34
 msg #3
Re: Concerns Broached by Members
John, if you could add mine too, I'd be grateful.  It is of course:


jase
 GM, 1 post
Thu 27 Mar 2003
at 08:43
 msg #4
Re: Concerns Broached by Members
Might be a good idea to put it into a real bank account, but which one?  (c;
Jhael
 GM, 26 posts
Thu 27 Mar 2003
at 09:42
 msg #5
Re: Concerns Broached by Members
Isn't the money going straight to jase for back payment of expenses as per his post?
Shannara
 GM, 40 posts
 Treasurer
 
Thu 27 Mar 2003
at 12:25
 msg #6
Bank Accounts
As soon as someone gives me information (hint, hint, woof) about where the funds should be sent....

woof, would it be convenient to have it in the Australian account? ... or do you have another that you'd prefer?

Alternately, for increased safety, I could transfer it into the US bank account if you don't have plans to use the funds right away.
JohnB
 GM, 59 posts
Thu 27 Mar 2003
at 13:15
 msg #7
Re: Bank Accounts
Email Addy's updated
(actually there  is an 'Email the Webmaster' link -  However, it  didn't look as if  it  came  to  any of us.)
lou
 member, 3 posts
Sun 30 Mar 2003
at 03:13
 msg #8
Re: Bank Accounts
Any system is going to have security concerns.  Perhaps as John says Paypal should only be used for receipt of funds, and that anything received should be transfered ASAP to actual bank accounts.
jase
 GM, 2 posts
Mon 31 Mar 2003
at 08:53
 msg #9
Re: Bank Accounts
I'd kind of written off the old expenses, so the current donations should go into a bank account somewhere for the interim... I guess US would be the best bet.  I can't see me needing to pay much for hosting in the immediate future, domain registration is the only thing that springs to mind, and I'm sure we'll collect enough in the Australian account to cover for that.

If and when I need to pay for hosting (eg when I'm no longer working at Perth iX) I'm pretty sure it'll be back in America as the hosting is much cheaper there, so I think it would be best if it stayed in an account there.
JohnB
 GM, 60 posts
Mon 31 Mar 2003
at 10:09
 msg #10
Re: Bank Accounts
Thabnks  Jase -  that  sounds  like a good plan.  I  will keep the UK  funds in the  UK  account,  so that if one of the accounts is  a bit  short  when  we need the  money -  then  we  can just  xfer it  across, without incurring too may  expenses ....

What  do  you others  think of that?
bigbadron
 GM, 30 posts
 He's big, he's bad, but
 most of all, he's Ron...
Mon 31 Mar 2003
at 10:11
 msg #11
Re: Bank Accounts
Sounds like a good plan to me.
JohnB
 GM, 61 posts
Mon 31 Mar 2003
at 10:15
 msg #12
Re: Bank Accounts
Maybe  we  should  send an  email to the  guy  who raised the concern  saying  something like ...

-----------

After you  raised your  concerns  about PayPal  we  have  consdiered our  processes a little  nore deeply.

We  have  come to  the conclusion that payPal is  still the most  convenient  way to transfer money around internationally, but  we  have  decided to  minimise the amount of  money that  stays in PayPal  accounts, and  keep the balances in properly protected bank accounts instead.

We  recognise that there is  risk inherent in all banking and financial sysyems, but  now believe that  we  have a system that  remains convenient  for members to use, but  also  reduces the  risk  to our  accumulated funds.

----------------

See I  can  talk  business crap  when I  need to  :P  and it  has  the benefit of showing that we are  responsive to  user raised issues.  After all,  the  guy  did  do it  privately, rather than in the middle of  one of the boards, and that  deserves  some  respect  :)
bigbadron
 GM, 31 posts
 He's big, he's bad, but
 most of all, he's Ron...
Mon 31 Mar 2003
at 10:38
 msg #13
Re: Bank Accounts
Yep, you can talk business crap as well as the crappiest of them.  And the email would be a good idea.

Hmmmm, do you want me to tack this onto the end of the minutes too?
Something like, "Some concerns had been raised regarding the security of PayPal as a way of handling donations, but after some discussion it was agreed that there are risks involved in any system for dealing with payments, and steps had been taken to reduce those risks to a minimum."
JohnB
 GM, 62 posts
Mon 31 Mar 2003
at 10:40
 msg #14
Re: Bank Accounts
LOL-  BBR  you can talk business crap too -  and thats a great idea  as well  :)
JohnB
 GM, 63 posts
Mon 31 Mar 2003
at 10:43
 msg #15
Re: Bank Accounts
and maybe I  should put a warning on the webpage as well?  Not stopping people from using payPay -  but warning that there may be a risk involved and pointing to the other methods of  Donation.   Prferably  elctronic tranfer  (preferable a standing order)  followed by  snail mailing us the money?

Or  should I just  leave it?
Jhael
 GM, 27 posts
Mon 31 Mar 2003
at 10:47
 msg #16
Re: Bank Accounts
I think Paypal should denote all the appropriate risks. I wouldn't go overboard.

BBR- since you're putting notes into the minutes - I'd detail what steps you're actually taking, with action points and agreed responsibilities.

ie - that the paypal account is cleaned out every month and transferred to US bank account, by ....
jase
 GM, 3 posts
Mon 31 Mar 2003
at 10:55
 msg #17
Re: Bank Accounts
UK account sounds good too, JB.

Could post something publically here and direct them to it, that way they see it (of course!) and it's there on record for anyone else who's concerned.
Shannara
 GM, 41 posts
 Treasurer
 
Mon 31 Mar 2003
at 13:00
 msg #18
Re: Bank Accounts
Paypal already gives some warning of possible misuse.  Perhaps a link to their 'warnings' page.

I'll get the funds currently in the paypal account transferred to the US bank account, hopefully today.

As Jhael said, I really wouldn't go overboard.  There are several scams about now that try to get people to give credit card information via false links -- paypal, AOL, ebill, etc. have been targetted.  If you want to give people a heads up, advise them to never, ever, ever re-submit credit card information for any account that they have created via the web.

The services will not contact them via email asking for the information.  Any email they receive (no matter how legitimate looking) should be ignored at worst, and reported to webmasters/the services immediately at best.
Jhael
 GM, 28 posts
Wed 2 Apr 2003
at 14:57
 msg #19
Re: Bank Accounts
Official hat on.

I've just been tidying up general and have deleted a few of the FoRPOL announcements. You may want to consider making a new one to bring people up to speed.

Just FYI.
praguepride
 member, 276 posts
Fri 18 Dec 2009
at 20:19
 [deleted] | msg #20
Re: Bank Accounts

This message was deleted by the user at 20:20, Fri 18 Dec 2009.

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